A lot of people died trying to escape, but no one was able to escape. People tried to get out, but they couldn't escape, because they built literally a wall right around it. There was no escaping! The people that did come out - a rumour went around that they had swallowed jewels and diamonds, so they killed them, and gutted them. There was just no way they could escape - because they weren't ready, and responsive, to the word of God. About a million people were carried away as slaves, which is what was represented on the Arch of Titus in Rome. What you read in history is, there were so many slaves, they just went for almost nothing. They were sold cheaply.
What's called ‘The Time of the Gentiles’ began. The ‘Gentiles’ refers to people outside of Israel, outside the covenant of God. They ruled over, and had dominion over, the land of Israel; and that went on, and on, and on, until…. There's going to be a change, because of the promises of God! Let's read on - this is exciting!
When did all that change? Well, it changed in my lifetime! You see, the Times of the Gentiles ceased 1948. Israel got rid of all the British, and took over that place, which is now a source of conflict.
If I were to ask: what city, in the whole world, is the source of conflict… you know what it is. It's Jerusalem! That's where Jesus is returning again. It's like it's going to be the governmental centre of the earth; so of course, it's the source of all conflict.
So the Jews took over, and then in 1967, for the first time, apart from being a nation, now they took over the temple area, or the area there in the old city; so now they had access to Jerusalem, and of course there has still been a battle, because there's still a mosque there, that the Muslims have, claiming that this is their ground. But it is not their ground. This is the land promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob - and Israel will possess the land.
So, you've got to think, when you hear all these arguments about the Middle East - where do you stand? Will you stand on God's side, agreeing with what He says is going to happen; or will you take the world view, or the secular media view, and take the view of all the people who are so critical of what's happening in the Middle East? I'm not saying it's not all right or wrong; it's just you've got to get God's perspective, amen?
Here's another thing... Last year, Donald Trump moved the embassy, and called Jerusalem the capital. That is historic! It's historic! When you see it in the bigger picture of what God is doing, you see that it's totally historic; and we'll see some things on this, that actually in the scripture, He tells about that!
So now… we want to look at just the End Times. What are the signs then, of the End Times? What are the signs that we are approaching the End Times? Jesus made it very clear: you won't know the day, or the hour; so, if anyone says they know the day, and give a date - they've got it wrong. He said: “no man knows the hour, nor the day, only the Father” - even Jesus doesn't know the day.
What you can know, is the seasons; it's the seasons, we've got to know. Jesus warns about it. The first thing He did was He warned about deception.
Mathew 24:4 – “Jesus answered and said: take heed no one deceives you”.
There's only one remedy for deception. It's found in the Book of Thessalonians. Receive a love for the truth, be passionate about truth. Be passionate about the word of God. Learn the word of God, find out what God has to say. If you don't know what God says, then you're a prime candidate to believe something wrong. You just won't know.
We should be students of the word of God. We need to have a love for the word, and even more so in the days we live now. When you turn on the news, or look at social media, you've got to understand that it’s all being manipulated to present a narrative, depending on who's saying the thing; so whatever you read is distorted, with an agenda behind it. That leaves you open to deception, and of course I see people that spend all their time on news media… but where's your Bible? Why aren't you learning the word of God? You're just a prime candidate for deception, because you're going to follow what the world is saying.